The Separation of Between-person and Within-person Components of Individual Change Over Time: A Latent Curve Model with Structured Residuals

摘要

ObjectiveAlthough recent statistical and computational developments allow for the empirical testing of psychological theories in ways not previously possible, one particularly vexing challenge remains: how to optimally model the prospective, reciprocal relations between two constructs as they developmentally unfold over time. Several analytic methods currently exist that attempt to model these types of relations, and each approach is successful to varying degrees. However, none provide the unambiguous separation of between-person and within-person components of stability and change over time, components that are often hypothesized to exist in the psychological sciences. The goal of our paper is to propose and demonstrate a novel extension of the multivariate latent curve model to allow for the disaggregation of these effects.